MEP: Vucic Raises Violence To a New Level, EU Must Be Stricter

Andreas Schieder (Photo: PrintScreen YouTube)

Social Democratic Party of Austria delegation to the European Parliament chief Andreas Schieder said on Aug. 28 that "the escalation of violence in Serbia over the past weeks is unprecedented, attacks on opposition politicians and demonstrators are shocking and must be condemned in the strongest terms."

"The regime in Serbia has resorted to disproportionate police force in the past too. Vucic, however, who is now under pressure over the protests, is raising this violence to a new level. He is slandering demonstrators, calling them criminals and openly threatening his own citizens," Schieder, a former election observer in Serbia, told the Vreme weekly.

He stressed that the EU needed to be stricter and more consistent in the accession process. "If a country is not advancing we must fulfill our promises and cannot keep it in the waiting room forever," he said, adding that if a country was heading in the wrong direction and violating the EU's basic principles, then financial support needed to be suspended.

Asked how he explains the "curtain of silence," as he described Brussels' behavior earlier, he said that "Serbia is a close partner to many European countries, including Austria during the time of former chancellor Sebastian Kurz. "Especially the countries led by the European People's Party frequently turn a blind eye where their partisan friend Vucic is concerned. In addition to that, the EU has economic interests in Serbia, which many European leaders do not want to endanger," Schieder explained.